Cooperative learning and the use of groups

Under most methods of teaching, having your students working together in groups for some part of a lesson is regarded as a desirable strategy to use. Effective teachers make use of group work as a component in their overall approach. Working in groups not only increases students’ active participation, it also encourages social skill development, enhances communication, and increases independence. Children working together, sharing ideas and learning from one another facilitates effective learning.

Careful planning is required if group work is to achieve the desired educational and social outcomes. The success of collaborative group work depends on the composition of the working groups and the nature of the tasks set for the students. When utilising group work as a strategy it is important to
consider the following basic points.
• The size of the group is important. Often children working in pairs is a good starting point.
• Initially there is some merit in having groups working cooperatively on the same task at the same time. This procedure makes it much easier to prepare resources and to manage time effectively.
• It is not enough merely to establish groups and set them to work. Group members have to be taught how to work together. They may need to be taught behaviours that encourage cooperation – listening to the views of others, sharing ideas, praising each other, and offering help to others (Doveston & Keenaghan, 2006).
• Choice of tasks for group work is very important. Tasks have to require collaboration and teamwork.
• The way in which individual tasks are allotted needs to be carefully planned and should be based on students’ abilities.
• Teachers should monitor closely what is going on during group activities and must intervene when necessary to provide suggestions, encourage the sharing of a task, praise examples of cooperation and teamwork, and model cooperative behaviour themselves.
• Seating and work arrangements are important. Group members should be in close proximity but still have space to work on materials without getting in each other’s way.
• Group work must be used frequently enough for the children to learn the skills and routines. Infrequent group work results in children taking too long to settle down.


Peer tutoring and peer assistance
Effective teachers also encourage peer tutoring in their classrooms. Peer tutoring can range from one student simply helping another at certain points during a lesson – for example by explaining or demonstrating again something the partner has not understood – through to highly organized systems of ‘class-wide peer tutoring’ (CWPT) where on a regular basis one student instructs another student or helps him or her revise a topic. As with the group work described above, peer-tutoring situations help to build both social and communication skills, as well as contributing to a positive classroom climate. Research over two decades has supported the use of peer tutoring to enhance the learning of students of all ages and abilities (McMaster et al., 2006).

Possibly Related:
Active Learning Equate to Learning with Active Methods of Instructions
Cooperative Learning: Theoretical Perspectives